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Belinda Toth learned her art from her grandmother and has developed her own secret ways to make sugarplums dance.
By MICHELLE JONES
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 16, 1999
DADE CITY -- Belinda Toth's most popular item is her chocolate drizzled caramel popcorn.
"The chocolate is a special blend I make," said the 46-year-old owner of Bea's Antiques and Sweets, 37912 Church Ave. in Dade City.
It is so yummy that Patricia Midkeff drives all the way from Hernando Beach to buy some each year during Dade City's annual Christmas Stroll.
"Last year they almost ran out," said Midkeff, who purchased several bags for the holidays.
Toth blends her magic into a plethora of taste-tempting treats in the small kitchen of her shop.
"I do more than 3,000 different items in chocolate and if I can't do exactly what someone wants, I can come up with something appropriate," she said.
She works with white, milk and dark chocolate.
"It is a secret recipe," she said.
Her grandmother taught her the foundations of the art, and a class in making chocolate covered cherries added to her repertoire of techniques, but basically Toth is a self-taught chocolatier.
Melting pots, sinks, a work table, two stools, and a popcorn machine take up most of the space in her kitchen. The walls are covered with shelves that are stocked with candy molds, paintbrushes, the 15 different flavorings she uses including amaretto, hazelnut and Irish cream, food colorings for painting and her special ingredients including cashews, peanut butter, raisins, pretzels, cherries and cream fillings.
Several years ago Toth injured her right arm unloading boxes in a warehouse.
"I had to learn to use my left hand," she said. "Learning how to paint chocolate helped."
When she returned to Dade City after marrying Carl Toth, she got serious about the candy-making.
"I didn't want to sit at home so I started making chocolate," she said.
People kept asking for her sweets so she decided to go into business.
Pam Bryant, a schoolmate of her grown children, encouraged her.
"She makes the best chocolate, and she can make any shape," said Bryant.
A gift for a music teacher was musical notes and for a school bus driver she created a bus.
"Her chocolate is a lot better than anything you can buy in the store, there really is no comparison, it's wonderful," said Bryant.
At first Toth leased 600 square feet of the storefront where she's located. Four years ago she bought the whole building expanding her shop to 2,000 square feet.
"It's a nice mix, the antiques and the candy," she said.
Her sweet shop also offers Jelly Bellys, licorice, fruit slices, and other candies both new and old-fashioned including stick candy and Necco wafers.
"I also do sugar-free chocolate," said Toth.
Special orders are lined up along one wall in the kitchen. In the past, she has created favors and centerpieces for the University of South Florida, dinosaurs and cracked eggs for the Museum of Science and Industry and little watermelon slices for the Watermelon Festival in Cordelle, Ga.
For the Kumquat Festival in Dade City, she cut kumquats in half and covered them with white chocolate. She has also done special orders for the chamber of commerce and for a local bank.
She said when people come in asking about gifts for a special someone she asks questions about the person and then designs something suitable.
Three years ago a young man wanted something for his marriage proposal.
"I made a heart-shaped box out of chocolate and when she lifted the top there were hand dipped cherries inside with the ring in the middle," said Toth.
For the couple's wedding she created a groom's cake shaped like a golf bag colored orange and blue.
"He's a Florida Gator," said Toth.
The most unusual item she created was a village in a large-mouthed bottle.
White chocolate served as snow and in the village were tiny houses, Christmas trees, a pond, skaters and a sled and a train.
"Pasco Community College auctioned it off for a fundraiser," she said.
With Christmas quickly approaching, she works on special orders of nativity scenes, Christmas villages and some candy filled chocolate Santa boxes.
An Open Me First item is one of her favorites for children.
It is a coffee mug and cereal bowl complete with hot chocolate, a mocha spoon, two little cookies and cereal.
"This way the parents know their children will eat some breakfast," she said.
During the winter months Toth cold packs the chocolate and ships orders.
The only thing she doesn't do is risque chocolates. The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. This Sunday she will be open from noon to 4 p.m., but she normally is closed on Sunday.
-- Michelle Jones covers central Pasco community news. She can be reached at (813) 226-3459. Her e-mail address is jones@sptimes.com